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"I want to take a good rest this year..."
Leon felt he had already done enough trash-talking at the AMA ceremony. Shallow had been performed publicly multiple times, leaving behind an epic performance on New Year's Eve that would go down in history.
He didn't really need a Grammy performance to expand the single's influence anymore.
Besides, he hadn't released a new album for a whole year and was only nominated for two awards. Trash-talking like before would be neither fresh nor convincing.
Phil was the first to disagree with his break, refuting on the spot, "What are you talking about? This is the Grammys! Every singer yearns to leave an unforgettable live performance here."
"I just want to leave the stage to the girls."
Leon shrugged. This year, the joint performance by Taylor, Beyoncé, and Cardi B was the highly anticipated main event.
Meddlesome entertainment media had already started hyping up this performance with eye-catching headlines—"Street Jesus's Girls."
After much thought, Leon decided to accept the Academy's invitation to perform Shallow at the Grammys in early February.
The next day, Old Mike arrived at Apocalypse Music with his assistant, holding the music video script written based on Leon's dictation.
His close collaboration with Leon had rejuvenated his career, as evidenced by his finely tailored suit and the gold Rolex on his wrist.
Rumor had it he also bought a beachfront house in Miami, inviting groups of bikini girls over periodically to shoot "art photos," continuing to follow in Louis Daguerre's footsteps.
"You told me before to look for inspiration in the movie Kill Bill. I'm a fan of Quentin; I've watched Kill Bill at least ten times." Mike took a Huazi cigarette from Leon and shook the gold Rolex on his wrist.
"There will be a lot of Japanese elements in the MV, but the overall tone will be white... The tone of Kill Bill leans more towards dimness, intentionally presenting the effect of Bruce Lee's old-school action movies."
"You're right." Leon had to admire that a professional is a professional.
For Americans unfamiliar with island nation culture, seeing katanas, gore, and tatami mats instinctively reminds them of Kill Bill.
But judging from the newly inspired MV, the tones of the two are opposite in warmth and coolness, completely different things.
Mike waved his hand, and his assistant immediately stood up and handed over a box of VCD discs.
The yellowed, damaged packaging and the obsolete VCD format all told the story that this thing was quite old.
Mike displayed the disc cover, which featured a Japanese woman holding a katana. "I found all the elements you wanted in this old Japanese movie called Lady Snowblood: heavy snow, cherry blossoms, black and white tones, explosive splattering blood..."
"Excellent work. Looks like you'll soon harvest your second MTV trophy." Leon took the disc from him, planning to watch it when free to see if it matched the MV scenes in his head.
For the next ten minutes or so, Old Mike put forward more of his own ideas for this MV, proposing to add richer elements based on the original version.
A white guy and a black guy crazy slashing little Japs in heavy snow with katanas sounded exciting, but still a bit monotonous.
"I think we should add some female elements," Old Mike suggested.
Female elements?
Leon's first reaction upon hearing this suggestion was whether this old guy had gone crazy shooting "art photos" of girls.
"This is a very male-oriented piece of music..."
Snap—Mike snapped his fingers and stood up excitedly. "That's right! Think about what fascinates men the most?"
"Power, money, killing, machinery..."
"And women!"
"Whether it's money or power, it's all to prove one is a powerful male capable of conquering more women! I'm a believer in the Freudian school!"
After a bunch of nonsense, Leon actually felt it made some sense.
The lyrics of Rockstar were explicit and violent; the absence of female elements was indeed a flaw.
Attracting audiences to buy records with scantily clad women had been proven a viable commercial route. The rapper Tyga, heavily promoted by Cash Money Records, was doing exactly this.
The theme of every single one of his works was showing off wealth and bitches, with content as empty as an elementary school student's essay.
His MVs were mostly uniform—girls, voluptuous girls, more voluptuous girls until the entire swimming pool was filled.
Doing so brought him tangible benefits. Among the dozens of rookies signed by Lil Wayne, Tyga's record sales were second only to Drake and Nicki Minaj.
The inspired MV contained a large number of blood-splattering shots. In hardcore B-movies, gore and beauties always appeared together, giving the audience maximum sensory stimulation.
"You're right; adding some girls is necessary." Leon compromised without thinking for long.
"Great! I'll fly back to Miami later to interview MV heroines for you! I absolutely won't let you down!" Mike rubbed his hands in excitement.
Getting a face reveal in Street Jesus's new song MV was the dream of countless young girls.
Under this temptation, even if they were dragged into a room by Old Mike and treated like animals, no one would complain a bit.
Mike wouldn't even have to pay for protection.
"Interview?" Leon shook his head. "I have a suitable candidate in mind..."
When the other party proposed adding a female character to the MV, Kat Dennings' chest flashed in his mind immediately.
Blood splattering on those white headlights sounded a bit incongruous, but it could indeed raise adrenaline levels.
Leon and Dennings had left good impressions on each other at the gathering in Buffalo. She often chatted with him via iMessage—besides complaining about unfair treatment and the status difference between TV actors and movie actors, she also frequently shared trivialities of life.
At noon, just after lunch, Leon called Dennings.
Straight to the point: "I have a job here; are you interested?"
On the other end of the phone, Dennings was silent for nearly half a minute, then asked back in the exaggerated tone of Max from 2 Broke Girls, "Really?"
After exploding in popularity with 2 Broke Girls, her wish to advance further in the film field hadn't come true.
Except for the Thor series, she hadn't gained the favor of any director...
With Leon's promise, her mind was now full of fantasies: big productions with budgets over 100 million, leading lady roles, winning awards until her hands went soft...
"I'm shooting an MV for a new song. Although this might not be a major job, I think your appearance can add a lot of color to the MV..."
Leon was just probing, but unexpectedly, Dennings agreed without hesitation.
"No problem! receiving your invitation makes me very happy!"
"Okay, then see you in New York in three days."
Leon hung up the phone, stretched slightly, and stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window for shadow boxing training.
There are two things in New York that spread extremely fast, so fast you shouldn't even think about covering them up.
One is the commercial actions of major companies; even a rumor based on wind and shadows can't escape the ears of Bloomberg reporters.
The other is various scandals about celebrities.
Leon happened to be a popular singer currently punching heavily to acquire New York's largest music radio station.
In the afternoon, news about Street Jesus's aggressive acquisition of radio station Z100 appeared in financial and gossip newspapers.
Reporters who heard the news blocked both sides of the road at the Apocalypse Music building, determined to make Leon personally confirm the authenticity of this information.
"Mr. Leon, is the rumor about you acquiring radio station Z100 true? Will the deal be officially reached this week?"
"It is heard that your assets have reached 200 million dollars. Everyone is curious about your wealth. How did you manage to earn this money in less than two years since your debut? Even Lady Gaga's earning ability can't compare to you."
"A considerable number of musicians have expressed concern about your acquisition of Z100. They worry that you are monopolizing music promotion channels in New York, which is unfair to those new singers."
The reporters' questions were sharper than the last. In the past, Leon might have chosen to ignore them to avoid unnecessary trouble from saying the wrong thing.
But now there was no need for him to hide. Jay-Z was busy dealing with the attacks of "Divorce Queen" Laura Wasser.
Even if he said in front of reporters that he wanted to acquire Roc Nation, Jay-Z wouldn't have the energy to choke back.
He cleared his throat and said to the long guns and short cannons in front of him: "Contrary to what you think, I am acquiring and integrating New York's radio business to give young people opportunities. In the past, promoting songs on well-known radio stations cost thousands of dollars, which is unbearable for those newcomers, especially small record companies and independent musicians."
"People who know me know that I come from a small record company in Brownsville. No one understands the plight of new singers better than me..."
The reporters were fooled round and round. A rare sober one jumped out to mock: "You make this sound like charity..."
"Yes!" Leon pointed at the reporter with excitement on his face: "You are absolutely right! Everyone knows I am obsessed with charity! To give young people with music dreams a fair chance to compete, this is my original intention for entering the radio business! As long as the work is excellent enough, you can get exposure on New York's largest music radio station without spending a cent!"
"WTF..." The reporter still felt this rhetoric was too absurd, but couldn't find any loopholes.
Leon walked towards the Bentley parked on the roadside, and the reporters made way for him one after another.
Returning to his home in Tribeca, as soon as he opened the door, he heard a familiar singing voice. The living room stereo was playing Bang Bang.
The music covered the noise of him opening the door. Taylor didn't notice him, completely immersed in the world of dance.
"One, two..."
Clap clap—
Taylor danced while beating the rhythm for herself but never managed to satisfy herself.
"No, this part should be danced with more power!"
Saying that, she hummed while adjusting her breathing.
She got a body like an hourglass, but I can give it to you all the time
She got a booty like a Cadillac, but I can send you into overdrive (oh)
Taylor wore only a white sleeveless slip dress on her upper body, with no covering on her lower body except for panties.
The room had heating on, plus high-intensity dance training made her sweat profusely all over.
Every time she flung her blonde hair, hot sweat splashed along with it.
Leon stood behind her admiring for two minutes, finally unable to resist commenting: "You seem to have gained a little weight recently."
"What?!" Taylor was startled, stopping her dance steps immediately.
Covering her chest with both hands, her body instinctively retreated, panting heavily.
When she saw clearly that the speaker was Leon, she immediately rushed over to greet him with her pink fists. "Why are you like a ghost?"
"It's you who danced too engrossed." Leon opened the refrigerator and took out a can of Heineken beer. "Your creative ability is unmatched; there's no need to put so much effort into dancing. I mean, you can't expect to be perfect in all aspects."
"No, I don't allow myself to have shortcomings anywhere!" Taylor raised her chin arrogantly, lifting her fair nose.
Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey weren't particularly good at dancing, but they had absolute dominance in the female music scene of the 90s.
Times update fast; the golden age belonging to big-voice female singers has long ended.
For new-era female singers, to achieve Diva status, the importance of dance is no less than singing skills.
Professional-level dance moves mean stronger live performance power.
Taylor's creative direction was transitioning towards pop music, so dancing became a necessary skill.
Besides her own transition needs, there was also a part of competitiveness—she didn't want to be suppressed too hard by Beyoncé in the Grammy live performance, as the latter was known to be excellent at both singing and dancing.
After being proud for a few seconds, Taylor seemed to suddenly think of something, narrowing her eyes and questioning: "What did you just say? I'm fatter than a while ago?"
Influenced by family genes, she actually had a constitution prone to gaining weight, so she paid extra attention to her diet.
Breakfast was a simple BEC combination with juice, and lunch was usually solved with sandwiches and salad.
Even the weekly cheat meal leaned more towards light food.
The Christmas holiday feast obviously made her indulge a bit too much; her buttocks and thighs were visibly fuller by a circle.
"Current weight is just right for you. Before, you were only 130 pounds; that kind of figure is unhealthy." Leon hugged Taylor's waist with a wicked smile. "Watching you dance from behind, I seemed to really see the taillights of a Cadillac."
"Shut up!" A blush floated on Taylor's face, and she subconsciously touched her own butt.
The hour-long dance training emptied her stamina bar, and her belly made "gurgling" sounds.
"What are you laughing at?"
Seeing Leon's smile, the blush on Taylor's face deepened, and she threw a pillow over.
"Nothing, you don't need to deliberately cover up; this is a normal physiological reaction." Leon pushed the pillow aside and rubbed her blonde hair. "Want to go out for a walk and grab dinner by the way?"
"Great! I know a highly rated Mexican restaurant that just opened nearby!" Taylor, who had been planning to skip dinner for a week just minutes ago, now raised both hands in favor.
The two tidied up simply, put on sunglasses, and headed to the parking lot.
On the way to the restaurant, Leon intentionally asked about her new album. "I heard Scott is prepared to throw a lot of money into your new album, promoting it nationwide from the first day of release, and starting a new round of global tours in the second half of the year?"
"That's right. People around me are more nervous about the performance of this album than I am." Taylor shrugged. "You know, transition either means another breakthrough in career or being dropped to the bottom; there is no third option."
Leon pursed his lips, complaining endlessly in his heart: Little fool, of course Scott is more nervous than you.
Just on promotional resources, Scott was willing to smash tens of millions of dollars. This wasn't for Taylor but for himself.
The more explosively this album sold, the more valuable the master rights would be.
Mentioning Scott, Leon suddenly thought of another annoying name. "Is SB Projects still pursuing you? What has that guy Braun been doing recently?"
"I haven't seen him in Nashville for a long time, but I heard he is more interested in investing in movies recently. You might see him at this year's Oscar ceremony."
Braun had once told Leon about his involvement in film investment, bragging about gaining the opportunity to buy shares in Captain America through his personal relationship with Paramount Pictures President Shari Redstone, investing tens of millions of dollars in this movie.
The latter was the daughter of Viacom Group Chairman Sumner Redstone.
However, this superhero movie with high hopes didn't achieve ideal box office results.
Budget $140 million, North American box office only $176 million.
Counting all overseas ticket warehouses, it only achieved a box office of $370 million.
Due to the higher share ratio of overseas theater chains and the payment of a considerable import tax, Captain America likely didn't reach the break-even point.
Braun had mocked Straight Outta Compton as a low-budget movie destined not to make money, but ended up being slapped hard in the face by a boomerang. He also gave up the idea of continuing to invest in Captain America 2 because of this.
Taylor held her forehead and shook her head, smiling faintly. "Braun and Will Smith have always maintained a good personal relationship. Hope you don't make any big news at the Oscar ceremony..."
"How could I? You should know me; I've always been a refined and easygoing man." Leon parked the car in front of a Mexican restaurant and turned to smile at her.